{"id":1763292,"date":"2022-12-05T08:15:55","date_gmt":"2022-12-05T13:15:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1763292"},"modified":"2022-12-05T10:49:21","modified_gmt":"2022-12-05T15:49:21","slug":"americas-66-trillion-timebomb","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/americas-66-trillion-timebomb\/","title":{"rendered":"America&#8217;s $66 Trillion Timebomb"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">8<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Famericas-66-trillion-timebomb%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1763292&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><aside class=\"single__inline-module alignleft\">\n<\/aside>\n<p>Wake up, America. That ticking sound you\u2019re hearing is the <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2022\/10\/04\/us-national-debt-surpasses-31-trillion-for-the-first-time-in-history\/\">American debt<\/a> time bomb that with each passing day is getting precariously close to detonating and crashing the US economy.<\/p>\n<p>Businesses, consumers and especially the federal and state governments have become hooked on red ink as if it were crack cocaine. Two factors have fueled this borrowing binge: an era of low interest rates (that\u2019s coming to an end) and falling real wages thanks to the 15% rise in prices of <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2022\/10\/13\/inflation-increases-as-biden-keeps-bragging-about-his-spending\/\">Bidenflation<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Let\u2019s review the borrowing up-escalator that accelerated during COVID but hasn\u2019t subsided. <\/p>\n<p>The King Kong of borrowing is Uncle Sam. The national debt is $31 trillion when including Social Security\u2019s and Medicare\u2019s unfunded liabilities. That\u2019s getting close to 150% of our national gross domestic product of $22 trillion. Some $5 trillion has been added in just the past three years. Balancing the budget seems like a pipe dream these days.<\/p>\n<p>Next add state and local government debt and unfunded liabilities. The American Legislative Exchange Council estimates that at just under $6 trillion.<\/p>\n<p>Now what about American households? The latest estimate for <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2022\/11\/08\/credit-card-balances-hit-record-866b-as-consumers-battle-inflation\/\">consumer debt<\/a> is $16.5 trillion, per the New York Federal Reserve. Most of that debt is mortgages, but increasingly Americans are taking on debt for routine expenses to pay monthly bills like groceries and gas at the pump. Thanks, President Biden.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/12\/shutterstock_editorial_White_House_Reception_for_Kenn_13649121i.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"699\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/shutterstock_editorial_White_House_Reception_for_Kenn_13649121i.jpg\" alt=\"JOE BIDEN\" class=\"wp-image-24892927\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/12\/shutterstock_editorial_White_House_Reception_for_Kenn_13649121i.jpg?quality=75&#038;strip=all&#038;w=2048 2048w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/12\/shutterstock_editorial_White_House_Reception_for_Kenn_13649121i.jpg?quality=75&#038;strip=all&#038;w=1535 1536w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/12\/shutterstock_editorial_White_House_Reception_for_Kenn_13649121i.jpg?quality=75&#038;strip=all 1024w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/12\/shutterstock_editorial_White_House_Reception_for_Kenn_13649121i.jpg?quality=75&#038;strip=all&#038;w=512 512w\" \/><\/a><figcaption>Many people blame President Biden for the failing economy and inflation. <\/figcaption><figcaption><span class=\"credit\">Pool\/ABACA\/Shutterstock<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Then we have corporate America and small businesses. Their debt burden, according to the Federal Reserve Board, just surpassed $10 trillion for the first time. Business borrowing can be a good thing \u2014 indicating economic optimism. But we have to wonder how many more FTX-type bubbles are out there inflated by low interest rates and all that helicopter money from Washington.<\/p>\n<p>So add it all up, and American society now owes $66,000,000,000,000 of debt! That\u2019s roughly three times our annual GDP.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"single__inline-module alignright\">\n\t<\/aside>\n<p>What makes this tsunami of debt all the more dangerous is that interest rates are rising (with at least one or two more Fed rate hikes coming), which will make the cost of turning over the debt even higher.<\/p>\n<p>Another danger sign: With wages (5% growth) falling behind consumer price inflation (7.5% growth), American families are borrowing more just to maintain their current living standard. Americans on average have lost $4,000 in purchasing power <em>and <\/em>some $30,000 in 401(k) plans in the Biden era.<\/p>\n<p>By far the biggest debtor has been Uncle Sam \u2014 which has created a national culture of living beyond our means. During COVID, President Donald Trump pumped $2 trillion of <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2020\/12\/27\/trump-signs-covid-19-relief-bill-with-600-stimulus-checks\/\">\u201cstimulus\u201d red ink<\/a> into the country when the private economy was shut down. But then, in an act of near-criminal financial negligence, Biden entered office and shoveled out $4 trillion more in green-energy giveaways, state bailout funds, <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2022\/11\/17\/biden-student-loan-debt-cancellation-plan-heading-to-supreme-court\/\">student loan bailouts<\/a> and welfare handouts to families with no one working.<\/p>\n<p>A new-wave economic strategy called Modern Monetary Theory facilitated this borrowing blowout. The loony idea is predicated on the notion that because the US dollar is the world reserve currency, we can run up the federal credit card by trillions and still feel good about ourselves in the morning. Until, that is, interest rates start to rise.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/12\/05.1o31.MOORE_.C.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"443\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/05.1o31.MOORE_.C.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-24893952\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/12\/05.1o31.MOORE_.C.jpg?quality=75&#038;strip=all 1024w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/12\/05.1o31.MOORE_.C.jpg?quality=75&#038;strip=all&#038;w=512 512w\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n<p>Consumers are now engaged in the same reckless monkey-see, monkey-do behavior. The latest Federal Reserve Bank of New York report says credit card debt has skyrocketed by 16% this year to above $1 trillion. The Christmas season is witnessing even more debt to buy Yuletide gifts. Low-income Americans are taking on debt at the fastest pace of all. Come January, don\u2019t be surprised if Americans look at their credit card debt and suffer severe buyers\u2019 remorse.<\/p>\n<p>For now, defaults and delinquencies are low, but we should have learned financial seas can shift on a dime. Meanwhile, the feds keep feeding the debt surge by increasing taxpayer mortgage insurance for million-dollar homes.<\/p>\n<p>Debt isn\u2019t necessarily a bad thing. It depends what we\u2019re getting for it. When we borrow for roads or factories or homes or to finance our military to win wars, borrowing can be necessary and appropriate. <\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/12\/shutterstock_1065011084.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/shutterstock_1065011084.jpg\" alt=\"Federal Reserve Bank of New York\" class=\"wp-image-24892985\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/12\/shutterstock_1065011084.jpg?quality=75&#038;strip=all&#038;w=2048 2048w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/12\/shutterstock_1065011084.jpg?quality=75&#038;strip=all&#038;w=1535 1536w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/12\/shutterstock_1065011084.jpg?quality=75&#038;strip=all 1024w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/12\/shutterstock_1065011084.jpg?quality=75&#038;strip=all&#038;w=512 512w\" \/><\/a><figcaption>According to the latest Federal Reserve Bank of New York report, credit card debt has skyrocketed by 16% this year to above $1 trillion.<\/figcaption><figcaption><span class=\"credit\">Shutterstock<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>But we aren\u2019t doing that. We\u2019re borrowing to pay people not to work. We\u2019re borrowing to finance windmills, Teslas and \u201creparation\u201d payments to other nations and to pour money into failing schools and ObamaCare subsidies that go to Americans making up to $500,000.<\/p>\n<p>We\u2019re acting like a nation of wild-eyed teenage girls on a shopping spree at the mall \u2014 armed with Daddy\u2019s credit card. At some point soon, we\u2019re going to have to start paying our bills or this debt time bomb is going to implode. It won\u2019t be pretty.<\/p>\n<p><em>Stephen Moore is a senior fellow at the Heritage Foundation. He served as a senior economic adviser to Donald Trump. His latest book is \u201cGovzilla: How the Relentless Growth of Government Is Devouring Our Economy.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Wake up, America. That ticking sound you\u2019re hearing is the American debt time bomb that with each passing day is getting precariously close to detonating and crashing the<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1763295,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[547],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1763292","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-bongino-report"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1763292","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1763292"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1763292\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1763295"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1763292"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1763292"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1763292"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}